Help me fix my situation please.

[ShaneB]

Hello everyone,
I have recently found this site after much regretted frustration with the a company that is DIY solar but not full on help. Turns out they do the bare minimum to sell you products. Now I need to fix the situation, but only can afford to do it slowly.

Here is what I have:
16 × Crown CR-430 6V 430Ah Deep Cycle Battery. 8s2p = 48v 860Ah
SkyMax Stratus 48 Volt 6000 Watts
3 × 300w solar panels
SkyMax MPPT 20 Amp Charge Controller
Westinghouse 9500DF portable generator

I am not an expert but I am also not ignorant when it comes to electricity. Just not very versed in solar. I am a 100% off grid cabin. Now obviously my solar panels are not enough to keep my bank charged, so we use the genny to assist and it's costing a fortune. I would like to move from this set up and go a different route, but limited on a budget.
I am thinking on removing my current inverter/charger, charge controller and solar panels. Purchasing a EG4 6000xp and 16 × 400w panels, allowing me room to change the batteries up next year.
Is my thinking the best way of fixing my situation?
Am I missing anything?

 

[KnobCountry]

You described what you have but not what you want to accomplish or a goal?

More panels sounds in order as you said.

What needs fixing?

 

[DIYrich]

For $600, you can get a victron 250v 100a charge controller. The 6000xp is twice that, but integrated. With the victron, you can overpanel, or use both charge controllers.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Hello everyone,
I have recently found this site after much regretted frustration with the a company that is DIY solar but not full on help. Turns out they do the bare minimum to sell you products. Now I need to fix the situation, but only can afford to do it slowly.

This is typical. You need DIY is also short for Design it Yourself.

Here is what I have:
16 × Crown CR-430 6V 430Ah Deep Cycle Battery. 8s2p = 48v 860Ah
48v 6000w split phase inverter/charger
3 × 300w solar panels
1kw charge controller
Westinghouse 9500DF portable generator

I am not an expert but I am also not ignorant when it comes to electricity. Just not very versed in solar. I am a 100% off grid cabin. Now obviously my solar panels are not enough to keep my bank charged, so we use the genny to assist and it's costing a fortune. I would like to move from this set up and go a different route, but limited on a budget.
I am thinking on removing my current inverter/charger, charge controller and solar panels. Purchasing a EG4 6000xp and 16 × 400w panels, allowing me room to change the batteries up next year.
Is my thinking the best way of fixing my situation?
Am I missing anything?

Your charge current via solar is woefully inadequate.

You need at least 4128W of solar to deliver 86A @ 48V.

If you're budget limited, why not just get the PV?

EDIT: What @DIYrich said.

 

[Supervstech]

What charge controller do you have?
I would start there, with a quality MPPT charge controller.
Id say you need a 100A controller first.

Then about 10 more 400W panels...
This will get your batteries charging, and allow you to operate the inverter you have.

 

[ShaneB]

You described what you have but not what you want to accomplish or a goal?

More panels sounds in order as you said.

What needs fixing?

The current inverter/charger is not user friendly at all. My wife and oldest have a hard time navigating it when I am not home (travel for work).
I did forget to mention all of the components are installed in a uninsulated shed.
Will the EG4 6000xp be more user friendly and support my generator?
Will the EG4 6000xp be fine with the lead acid batteries or do I need to reduce it down to 1 bank instead of 2?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

The current inverter/charger is not user friendly at all. My wife and oldest have a hard time navigating it when I am not home (travel for work).

what is it?

I did forget to mention all of the components are installed in a uninsulated shed.

Do you have a temperature sensor attached to the batteries? It is critical that lead acid be charged with temperature compensation.

Will the EG4 6000xp be more user friendly

Maybe. Can't tell until you tell us what you have for comparison.

and support my generator?

Maybe. EG4 are not famous for being tolerant of dirty generator power, but the 6000XP is supposed to be.

Will the EG4 6000xp be fine with the lead acid batteries or do I need to reduce it down to 1 bank instead of 2?

With the 16X 400W you'll have more than enough to charge the whole bank.

 

[ShaneB]

This is typical. You need DIY is also short for Design it Yourself.



Your charge current via solar is woefully inadequate.

You need at least 4128W of solar to deliver 86A @ 48V.

If you're budget limited, why not just get the PV?

EDIT: What @DIYrich said.

Yes, I realized after a year that what they sold me wasn't cutting it, even with only running a fridge.

 

[DIYrich]

Btw: for off grid, the rule of thumb is 3 days of battery, and enough panels to recharge in one day of good sun.
Also, with deep cycle battery, you get about 1/2 of the capacity as usable.

Maxing out your inverter is 125 amps at 48v. That is about 3.5 hours of max use on battery.

The fridge alone uses about 1 to 2 kwh per day. The inverter about 1 kwh. 6 kW of panels can produce 30kwh on a good day, maybe half that in the winter, depending on your area.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Yes, I realized after a year that what they sold me wasn't cutting it, even with only running a fridge.

Not an RV/propane fridge?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Btw: for off grid, the rule of thumb is 3 days of battery, and enough panels to recharge in one day of good sun.
Also, with deep cycle battery, you get about 1/2 of the capacity as usable.

The issue with that rule of thumb is the array may easily subject the batteries to over-current as most lead acid have a very narrow range of "happy" currents while in bulk mode.

 

[DIYrich]

Also, once everything is setup and running, you should not have to touch the inverter.

Consider a Chargeverter (or 2) to directly charge the battery. One CV could recharge your battery in about 6 hours.

 

[ShaneB]

what

SkyMax Stratus 48 Volt 6000 Watts

 

[ShaneB]

Not an RV/propane fridge?

No, regular house fridge. Couldn't afford a propane fridge at the time. Family of 4, so we needed a normal size fridge and downsized electrical loads. Use smaller generator for bigger loads.

 

[Hedges]

Battery is FLA. Study how to maintain, including watering and measuring cell voltage and specific gravity.
Without reading the manual, I'm going to assume 0.13C charge rate desired.

You have 41 kWh of battery, need 5400W of charging. PV panels put out 75% to 85% in full sun, so 7200W (STC) of panels would peak at that. 10kW of panels, half oriented SE and half SW, could maintain charging for a few hours in good sun. More to make up for seasonal tilt and light clouds/dust obscuring.

Because these are lead-acid not lithium, and only happy fully charged, you should also have enough panels for 3x anticipated consumption. 1.5x just for inefficiency of round trip, and more for days without full sun.

 

[ShaneB]

What charge controller do you have?

SkyMax MPPT 20 Amp Charge Controller

 

[DIYrich]

SkyMax Stratus 48 Volt 6000 Watts

Claims to be a low frequency inverter. The 4k version claims 12kw surge. So this may be able to go to 18kw surge. It's a keeper.

Skymax has cheaper charge controllers. Don't know if they somehow work together.

 

[Supervstech]

SkyMax MPPT 20 Amp Charge Controller

Yeah, that is destroying your batteries.

You need at least an 80A charger.

 

[Hedges]

860 Ah x 0.13C = 112A charge controller needed.
Just for battery charge, not including loads drawing current at the same time.

The charge controller you've got is just about right for the PV panels you've got, and can keep battery at float but won't recharge properly.

Probably this system is sized for use with generator power through inverter/charger, running off battery when generator isn't running. PV keeps it at float when you're away. So all of that makes sense. Especially avoiding lots of attractive panels for thieves.

If you're there a lot, then large PV array could make it mostly solar powered.

 

[ShaneB]

Yeah, that is destroying your batteries.

You need at least an 80A charger.

And this is why I need to figure a different and efficient way to keep things up. I know we haven't used more than 700 watts. It usually sits at 250 or less, unless fridge kicks on then a surge (compressor kick on), then back around 500 to 700w.